Camping @ Fish Lake

We went camping a few weeks ago, and it was awesome! We went with a few of our friends and their family. We even brought the dog. I can't believe I forgot a picture of that. Fun was had by all! The weather wasn't too bad--it was cool and slightly windy because we were near the lake. It only rained the last night. That isn't too bad for the unpredictability of the Northwest.

I bought bandannas for all the kids. Camping isn't camping without bandannas.

This day we all went out and rented pontoon boats. There were too many of us for one boat so we split up into family groups. We spent about two hours on the lake fishing. It was a blast!

Here we are on our pontoon boat. It was so windy and cold.

Jacob fishing for the first time. He enjoyed fishing but not the wind.

Andrew was the first to catch a fish.

I can't wait until our camping adventure next year. It was a highlight of our summer. It is so fun to getaway from the everyday stresses of life. I love camping! --emily

Helping Grandma with her bus

In preparation for the school year to start, my mom a school bus driver invites the kids to help her get her bus ready. Andrew climbed up and down every seat. Jacob loved to wash and squeegee the windows. They both help put gas in the big bus and also washed i clean. What a fun tradition! --emily

Volenteering in the 15th

The Boeing Classic, an official PGA event on the Champions Tour, is held at the golf course in our neighborhood. We had a lot of fun attending the event last year, so I decided to volunteer as a Field Marshall at the event this year. I was only able to volunteer on Wednesday, which is when they have a pro-am. One of the professional golfers is teamed up with four amateurs who have paid for the privilege of playing with a pro golfer at one of the most beautiful golf courses in the area. I was assigned to the 15th hole. I had the opportunity to meet some great people and see some amazing tee shots.

The highlight for me was when my sons came up to join me at the end of the day. I was able to show them around and let them stand out on the tee box. It was a fun day. I'm planning to volunteer again next year.--Kelly

Going To The Zoo! How about You?

We are still in Washington, not Morocco, although it would be fun to be in Morocco. We are at the zoo. They have camel rides for the kids. We took Kelly's Mom and step Dad to the zoo today. It was a great day for some outdoor fun.

Jacob had a great time playing with the Meerkat. Jacob is the perfect height. They are looking eye to eye at each other. He walked up to the window and the Meerkat came right up to the window almost "playing" with Jake.

(Look closely at the picture to see the Meerkat)

My baby bird,

and buddy Snail!

Have you seen Dora the Explorer? This is what a real Armadillo looks like. Aren't they cute! They have so much crazy energy he was shaking like he had a cold shiver.

In the zoo show we watched there was a darling beaver that was trained to do tricks. He was so cute. He dove into a pool and chopped a "tree" (a little stick) down then dragged it off. Trained dogs are one thing, but a beaver--that is amazing!

We ended our day with Grandpa stroller rides. As you can see, the boys are lovin' it! --emily

Grandma is in town. . . Yeah!

Our Day @ The Aquarium

My cousin Leslie, who I grew up with, who now lives in Michigan was in town for a summer visit to see family and friends. We took the kids to the Aquarium on the Seattle water front to enjoy some time out of the Hot Hot sun. We had a great time sharing this fun adventure with our kids.

Our afternoon began with some Ivars for lunch and some french fries for the seagulls to enjoy. It took the kids a moment to get warmed up to the idea of hand feeding the birds. But as you can see, the birds knew what they were doing. This helped the kids feel at ease.

Inside the Aquarium there is this amazing touch tank and they allow the kids to explore the star fish and sea anemones up close and personal.

Andrew loved putting his little hands in the water and gently touching the star fish. The rule is to touch them with one finger. That way it is a softer and more gentle touch.
I want a flower garden in this color pallet. Aren't they beautiful?
This was beautiful fused glass art work that was a wall border near the kid area. It was amazing! It made me want to go and make some fused glass tiles.

This here is a Jelly fish circle tank. It was awesome! The tank has a small current so the jelly fish slowly went around this amazing tank. The kids loved sitting on the floor and waiting for the Jellies to pass them on the floor window.

Another picture of the Jellies in the tank!

The Aquarium had a great section of dress up scuba diver clothes. They kids enjoyed putting on the diving gear. Leslie played with the kids here. So I could go and feed the car meter. I think it is lame that you can only park in 2 hour increments down town. So I had to go and feed it twice through the day. Lame!

I love how Alyssa color-coordinated all her gear. Looking great girl!
We capped off the day with a ice cream at McY D's. It was the perfect way to end our great day. We can't wait to see you guys again! We had a great afternoon. --emily

The Big Day!

My little brother Joshua got married yesterday. It was a wonderful ceremony with close friends and family. He married his high school sweetheart. They have been together for 10 years if not longer. I am so happy for them. They are so great together and they really do complete each other. She is going to be a great sister-in-law. Congratulations you two, I am so happy for you! --emily

Blue Angels

Friday morning a friend and I took our kids to a park on the Seattle side of the lake to watch the Blue Angels. The Weather was hazy, but not raining, chilly but our sweatshirts fixed that. It was a great day for Angel watching!

The bridge closes 30 min or so before the show so we had to be a little early. With kids, this can be tricky. So we planned to have the kids play in the sand as we waited for the show. They filled the sand buckets and made sand structures, but they destroyed them just as fast as they went up. Andrew even took down some of the girls' castles before the girls were ready. Boys!

(Andrew covering his ears from the roar of the engines)

The kid dynamic was great. Andrew watched Ethan all day and followed his every move. See here: Andrew has his hand on his hips just like his friend.

One of the reasons the Angels are so awesome is they dive and sneak up on you. There were a few times you could hear the roar and then all of the sudden they were upon you and it all happened so fast that you didn't even have time to cover your ears before they were gone again.

To good memories with friends. --emily

The Movies

Kelly is still out of town! So I have been trying to keep the boys entertained. This seams to be such a hard task. My boys get bored so quickly. The other day we were in the car on the way home from a play date and Jacob said, " Mom I am bored. What are we doing next?" I thought to myself, "Really? You just spent all morning playing with friends." Anyway, my point is I thought it would be fun to take the boys to see Toy Story 3. I have never taken both boys by myself, so I was a little nervous, but it went well. The boys loved the movie and it held their attention perfectly. Great job boys! Thanks for making it through a long movie without having to pee and without a meltdown. Yippee! --emily

It's A Jungle Out There

This past week I had a great week at girls camp. I was blessed with a great companion leader Melanie, and our girls were Amazing! We had 9 girls ages 12 to 15 and 3 girls that were 16ish they were our JC's (junior counselors). We all meshed so well together. It was a great week of learning new things. We did crafts together, Climbed the climbing wall, Went to stargazing, Floated the river and many other camp type things. It is a place the girls can learn something new in a safe and friendly environment. As a group the girls learned a dance and performed it all together. Our JC's also came up with a skit and did all the work to get the girls ready to perform it on skit night. It turned out fantastic! I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to serve at camp this year.

I hope to be able to do it again next year! --emily

Some of my pre-camp work

I made a bag like this for all our girls. The purpose is a makeup bag or a pen pouch for their school bag. I wanted them to have something in there every day to remind them to "Stand a little taller." As a unit we were the Giraffes.

We have a great tradition of making "beads" to trade with each-other at camp.

The beads I made for this year:

The Giraffes are our unit bead.

The Lady bugs are our ward bead.

The butterflies are my friend bead.

We all exchange "friend beads" so in the end we have a huge string of memories.

It is awesome!

This is our unit poster I put together with the help of my vinyl-expert friend Melissa. Thanks for the trade. It was sooo worth it. The darling girls are our Junior Councilors (JCs):

Nicole, Becky, Sierra and our adopted JC Whitney.

My friend Kay painted these darling giraffes for our unit. She painted 5 for me. They were all different colors: green, pink, yellow, purple, and blue. I had them laminated so they would survive the harsh conditions of camp. Andrew wanted one for his room, so now that camp is over, he has this green one and a yellow one hanging on his walls. They are darling! --emily

B-School Video

We had a fun time helping film a video the week before Emily went to girl's camp. Gabe Lantz and Darren Klein came out from the Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. They are working on some videos for the MBA program that I am enrolled in and wanted to film me and our family as I prepared to go back to Indiana for my second in-residence at the the business school. They filmed me at my office doing work stuff and then came to our home to film us hanging out as a family. We all had a great time. We're not really comfortable in front of the camera, but Darren and Gabe made it fun. We hope they'll come visit us again some time.

--Kelly

Gabe Lantz, videographer (above left)

and Darren Klein, Director of Marketing, Kelley Direct (above right)

Shaving With Dad

Last week, Emily was out of town so I took the week off work to spend time with the boys. Even though we missed Emily, it was fun to spend a week doing guy stuff. We had a fun time.

One morning, the boys were watching me shave and they wanted to put shaving cream on their faces too. I put the shaving cream in their hands and let them spread it on their own face. I'll wait a few years before I let them use a razor. --Kelly